Now we need to briefly look at the degradation of the church, which is also the history of the church, by checking its history against the seven points spoken of in the previous chapter.
The first item of the degradation of the church is having hierarchy. This occurred as early as the beginning of the second century. At that time there was an elder in the church in Rome whose name was Clement. In his epistle he clearly referred to the matter of bringing the Judaic priestly system into the church. According to the view of some of the saints, it was not fitting that all the believers would serve the Lord in coordination on the same standing. In their opinion it would be better to have a group of priests who could replace the saints in the service to God, just as in the Old Testament. There was such a proposal shortly after A.D. 100.
At approximately the same time another person named Ignatius wrongly interpreted the words in Acts 20:17-28. There the apostle clearly said that the overseers were elders. Elder denotes the person, and overseer denotes the service; these two terms are two designations for the same person. Ignatius, however, thought that the overseers, spoken of in Acts 20:17-28, were higher than the elders; he taught that elders were for a locality but that overseers were not limited to one locality. Thus, from that time on in Christianity, the saints who were designated by these two terms were divided into two classes. Later overseer was translated as bishop, meaning that elders should administrate a church in a locality, whereas bishops should rule over churches in various localities or at least churches in a district. Above these bishops there were archbishops. Thus, ranks came into existence in the church.
Around the middle of the third century, Cyprian, the archbishop of Carthage in northern Africa, strongly promoted the idea that the church should be organized with upper and lower levels, upper and lower ranks. This proposal greatly helped to produce organized Christianity.
In the fourth century, when the Church of Rome was formed, there were various distinctions in rank, such as bishops, archbishops, and cardinals. Finally, in the fifth century, the highest rank, the pope, was produced. All of these ranks constitute a priestly system, an intermediary class, in the Roman Catholic Church.
Since that time, a small group of persons among the Christians have become an intermediary class. Those who belong to such a class are responsible exclusively for the service of God, and the rest of the believers are fully excused from it. This is the situation of the Roman Catholic Church today. Among them, some not only belong to different ranks but also wear different costumes. It seems that the clergy should be holy, and the rest, the laity, may be worldly. This kind of hierarchy and intermediary system damages the Body of Christ, causing many members of the Body of Christ to become useless.
Later, in addition to the Roman Catholic Church there was also the Eastern Orthodox Church (Greek Orthodox Church). Besides these, there was the Nestorian sect (which spread to China and was known as the “Ching Religion”). Both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Nestorians have an intermediary class with bishops, archbishops, and patriarchs. Therefore, at around A.D. 400, except for a small number of Christians who were pure in heart, the majority of Christians, whether in the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, or the Nestorians, were fully involved with an intermediary class. Thus, believers were no longer brothers on equal standing, nor were they members; even more, they were not serving together as priests of God. The church became degraded, the service in the church was crippled, and the members of the Body of Christ became useless. Therefore, the first characteristic of the original church was completely lost.
The second item of the degradation of the church is being in union with the world. In A.D. 313 the Roman Emperor Constantine accepted the Christian religion, thereby bringing the church into union with the Roman Empire, that is, with the world. Before that time the Roman Empire had persecuted the church and was absolutely in opposition to it. But when Constantine accepted the Christian religion, the attitude of the Roman government toward the church changed from one of opposition to one of welcoming. As a result, the church was brought into a union with the Roman Empire and thereby became completely of the world.
In A.D. 380 the Roman Emperor Theodosius I formally established the Christian religion as the imperial religion of Rome by a royal decree. In this way the church was brought into an even deeper union with the world.
The Eastern Orthodox Church also kept its union with the world and did not break away from the power of the world.
Even the Nestorians, although their union with the world was not as strong as that of the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church, frequently depended on the power of the world; thus, it also did not break away from the world’s power.
At this time, the church not only brought in hierarchy but was also fully mixed with the world. At the time of the apostles, the church was like a boat on the sea, and the sea water could not get into the boat. But soon, even though the boat was on the sea, the sea was also in the boat. Sea water forced its way into the boat, signifying that the world had invaded the church. In this way, the church was submerged in the world, and her nature was completely changed.